Heavy legs and breathlessness

[soreleg28]

My legs feel heavy and stiffen up very quickly if I walk on any hard surface like pavements or even supermarket floors for more than a few minutes. It's particularly bad going up any incline, however slight. I literally feel as if I am having to drag my legs and the effort makes me really breathless. The pain when they stiffen up is so bad that more than once I've have to abandon my shopping trolley and find somewhere to sit down quickly as I feel as if I'm in danger of falling over with the pain. This started after a period of severe stress last year.

Do any other fibro friends experience this? I have hot baths with Epsom salts and rub legs with Pernaton cream which gives short term relief but a soon as I start walking on a hard surface it happens again 😪. Any tips or advice welcome please.

[Dizzytwo Moderator]

Hello, I see this is your first post even though you have been a member for a while. So let me wish you a warm welcome to our group 😊

You say you had severe stress I can completely empathise with that. I suffere from severe anxiety /panic attacks amongst other things.

One thing I can say is this. To me you sound like your having panic attacks. There may be other things going on and would not rule out lower back problems.

The thing with panic is once you take an attack in a certain place and it scares you. You are more likely to believe everytime you go to that place or walk on that surface it will happen again. And yes it will unless you get help to stop it happening.

We can develope a phobia to almost anything. I am people phobic. Thats why I became agoraphobic and housebound. Getting better with help.

If I was you I would go and talk with your GP about how you feel. The one thing to remember when your breathing becomes hard is you are not suffering from lack of oxygen but actually getting too much xx

Momo

[soreleg28 in reply to Dizzytwo]

Thanks for this Dizzy. I had wondered if it was anxiety but I also have COPD and severe psoriatric arthritis as well as fibro so just wondering which one it might be connected to. But this is a very recent symptom and I've had those three conditions for years. As you say, it has to be stress related. Will make a GP appointment but curious to know if anyone else with fibro experiences this heavy leg feeling - particular if I stand on hard floors.

[ArtfulLyricist in reply to soreleg28]

Hi soreleg28 I had this years ago and it can definitely be a physical ailment. Mine was compartment syndrome which resolved itself which is unusual. I did find wearing shoes with softer souls with some bounce in them was better. And I never walked in total flats as I couldn't for more than 10 minutes without my ankles not being able to bed properly and a high risk of me tripping. I also couldn't walk in anything too high 🙄. So I found shoes with an inch to and inch and a half heel were the most helpful, plus a little platform to get my whole foot off the floor and as I say a softer, more bouncy textured should sole. I also learned that adding arch support insoles to my footwear improved things too.

But definitely worth seeing your GP as it can be related to lower back damage. Good luck 😊